Reminiscent of the works of Thorne Smith, though less amusing, this novel follows the upright, unhappily married Tydvil Jones, who decides to cast aside his pure lifestyle and go to the devil, quite literally. It becomes tiresome rather quickly.
The blurb, "A Shocking Tale of Vile, Ruthless Gangsterism -- The Toughest Novel You'll Ever Read!" is still as true today as it was in 1939. This fast-paced crime novel is as hard-boiled and violent as they come, disturbingly violent -- but without being sickeningly graphic. I wouldn't want to read this sort of thing on a regular basis, but if you're going to read this genre, "Miss Blandish" is a first-rate example.
A newly graduated young doctor, down on his luck, takes an unlikely job as a seaman on a private yacht. Neither passenger nor crew, he becomes the one person both sides trust when several people on board are murdered, one by one. Though compellingly told, the novel does come off a bit dated, and the solution to the mystery is scarcely foreshadowed at all, which seems a bit unsporting.
Narrated by a timid schoolmaster bowed down by his own tragic love story, this bittersweet novel follows Gavin Dishart, the very young minister of an upright church in small Scottish town, and the only support of his widowed mother. Gavin's encounters a mysterious and bewitching gypsy woman who alternately enrages and enchants him, but the least hint of their dangerous relationship imperils his standing in his church.
Full of dialect and local color, it starts slowly but gradually becomes a dramatic and engrossing story that keeps your attention to the end, despite much strong foreshadowing of its conclusion.